How far can technology go to save a life? About 7,000 miles, apparently.
In a medical first for both Africa and the world, a cancer patient in Angola has successfully undergone robotic surgery.
The surgery was performed remotely by a surgeon sitting in the United States.
Yes, you read that right. Dr. Vipul Patel is a world-renowned robotic surgeon based at AdventHealth’s Global Robotics Institute in Florida.
He operated from nearly 11,000 kilometers away.
The groundbreaking procedure, a prostatectomy, marked the first-ever telesurgery of its kind across such a vast distance.
“It’s the longest-distance telesurgery ever completed,” AdventHealth proudly shared.
What’s The Result?
Back in Luanda, at Angola’s Complexo Hospitalar Cardeal Dom Alexandre do Nascimento, a full surgical team stood ready.
Doctors, engineers, nurses, and one of Dr. Patel’s team members worked hand in hand with the remote surgeon.
The patient, 67-year-old Fernando da Silva, was discharged just three days later to continue recovery at home.
“This was the first teleassisted surgery in Angola — and in Africa,” said hospital director Carlos Alberto Masseca.
Remote surgery once seemed like science fiction. Now, it’s rewriting the future of healthcare — one precise robotic movement at a time.
